Introduction

This course is meant as a primer for clinicians to learn about how the clinical reasoning process works and how to develop one's own clinical reasoning abilities. Although there is no universally accepted definition of "clinical reasoning", it is often defined as as "a skill, process, or outcome wherein clinicians observe, collect, and interpret data to diagnose and treat patients". It thus encompasses diagnostic reasoning, management reasoning, and prognostic reasoning. This course will focus primarily on diagnostic reasoning, but the concepts discussed are largely applicable to management reasoning and prognostic reasoning as well. There are three core sections of this course, including:

This is a group of four recorded lectures that touch upon the key underpinnings of the diagnostic reasoning process., including "Overview of the Clinical Reasoning Process", "Pretest Probability", "Likelihood Ratios", and "Thresholds". These lectures are an excellent place to start as they dissect the diagnostic reasoning process and explain how one actually makes a diagnosis. If we have a good understanding of how the process works, it's much easier to determine ways in which to improve our own abilities.

This section provides literature on how to learn clinical reasoning as well as specific exercises that can be used to build one's own reasoning abilities.

(Canvas sign-in required to access)

This section provides the opportunity to discuss challenges, opportunities, and insights into learning and teaching clinical reasoning among others at MaineHealth with similar interests.

Additional Content

In addition to the core content, we have provided materials on Teaching Clinical Reasoning as most of us who are learning clinical reasoning are also (or will soon be) teaching it as well:

This section provides resources on teaching clinical reasoning, including specific techniques that can be used to improve our teaching.

Footer - MaineHealth_3.19.25.png